Trepostomata, extinct order of bryozoans (moss animals) found as fossils in marine rocks of Ordovician to Triassic age (200 million to 488 million years old). The trepostomes are characterized by colonies in long, curved calcareous tubes, the interiors of which are intersected by partitions. The order includes several common and well-known genera, including the Ordovician forms Prasopora and Dekayella.

Learn More in these related articles:

in moss animal

Dominant among the early Paleozoic (542 million to 251 million years ago) stenolaemates, however, was the order Trepostomata, which evolved rapidly during the Ordovician and attained its peak during the upper part of the same system. The long, slender zooids of trepostomes grew together to form large, solid colonies. As a zooid grew longer and longer, diaphragms (or transverse partitions) were...

...of stenolaemates have been described. Only one of the four orders that make up the class, the Cyclostomata, is represented by living species; all members of the other three orders (Cystoporata, Trepostomata, and Cryptostomata) are now extinct. The stenolaemates are the oldest of all the bryozoans and date from the Early Ordovician Epoch (505 to 478 million years ago) on. The individuals...